


The Relay Race

by keitaiijima



Series: Junior High Moments [2]
Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types, Battle Royale - Takami Koushun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:55:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24700429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keitaiijima/pseuds/keitaiijima
Summary: Izumi reluctantly agrees to compete in the school's relay race but ends up regretting it. At least until she gets some surprising words of encouragement from a classmate.Note: This is part of a non-linear series all set in the same universe but can also be definitely read independently.
Relationships: Numai Mitsuru/Kanai Izumi
Series: Junior High Moments [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2059632
Comments: 6
Kudos: 4





	The Relay Race

And so the day was here. Shiroiwa Junior High’s annual field day. Typically for Izumi, this meant a day of no classes and instead cheering on her athletic friends from the sidelines. Chisato, Noriko, Satomi and herself would sit on the grass, sipping fruit-juice and enjoying the Spring sun as Yukie, Haruka and Yuka competed in different exercise with the hope of bringing class B to victory. This was their last year of competing now, which meant Yukie had deemed it “of extra importance” that they succeeded. The first year, it had been of “extra importance” that they won so that the other classes would not consider them inferior and make a lasting impression as newcomers. As they had won most of the exercises their first year, it then became of “extra importance” that they won their _second_ year, to not make it seem like they had slacked off and lost their touch.  
Izumi found herself wondering, should she still be classmates with Yukie next year, what trivial class activity would then be of extra importance every week? That was a problem for later.

Her problem for _now_ , was that Haruka had come down with a bad cold earlier that week. In typical Haruka-style she had tried to fight through it but then ended up giving in and staying home Wednesday, with the field day only two days away. It had become abundantly clear Haruka would not be in shape to compete this year. And yesterday, Yukie had gotten desperate.  
“Please, Izumi. _Please_!” she had intently begged in the cafeteria. What Yukie desperately needed, was one final competitor to the relay race, which finished off the whole show. The relay race saw all nine classes, three from each year group, face off, and it was, as Yukie put it, a “true test of the classes cooperation and unity”. In short, a more important win than the more individual games of long jump or hammer throw, where only one of the classmates would compete to collect points for them all.  
“Why me?” Izumi had asked with a small groan. “I’m hopeless at all sports! You know that. Even… Noriko or Chisato might be better…” she said, a bit uncertainly, as the Chisato stuck her tongue out at her in response.  
“You used to dance, didn’t you? I think you might have an advantage over us,” Noriko pointed out with a small smile. Neither of them were too keen on the idea of this responsibility. Or of running. When Yukie had brought the topic up, Satomi had quickly put a book up in front of her face, mumbled “Nope” and made it clear she was not an option, either.  
“We just need one person. We need _you_! You were my first choice!” Yukie continued pleading. Yuka burst out laughing.  
“Yeah, first choice after Tendo, Kotohiki and Ogawa all declined,” she said with a cheeky smile, making Yukie blush a little.  
“I-Irrelvant!” she quickly retorted. “I just happened to see them first and felt it would be rude if I didn’t offer them a chance. I wanted Izumi all along, of course!”  
They all knew this was a lie, but Izumi only smiled, a little flattered that Yukie had at least considered her the most attractive choice out of their remaining friends, despite maybe being left with no other option.  
“Who else will be running…?” she had asked with a sigh. At this point, Izumi had realized she would most likely lose; she could not say no to Yukie’s puppy-eyes and excited head-nodding.  
“Oh! It’s me and Yuka, of course. Only Chigusa and Kusaka are the other girls on the team. The boys are Nanahara, Mimura, Niida, Oki and Hatagami. It has to be five boys and five girls. And we could arrange it so that you get the easiest lap, I promise. It won’t be more than 100 meters. You can do that! I’ve seen your cardio when shopping. _Please,_ Izumi!”  
_What relay race has ten laps? Why can’t we cut this in half?_ Izumi mentally sighed. But Yukie kept batting her eyelashes at her, going on and on about the _extra importance_ of this last relay race and field day as a class...

And so it was settled. Izumi would run the shortest lap. And it was downhill, which had also been one of her requirements. _How bad can it really be?_  
She had gone on a practice jog with Yukie and Yuka that evening, and quickly regretted it. But when they had ran down the hill she would be running the next day – the one leading down from the back building of the school and towards the football field, where Niida would take over to run the final lap- it had felt quite easy compared to the thirty minutes of jogging leading up to it, restoring her confidence slightly.  
At the bottom of the hill, Yuka gave her a high five, and Yukie smiled approvingly.  
“You got this, Izumi. Clas 3-B will go out with such a bang. Three annual victories! Undefeated!” Yukie beamed, her eyes almost glossy at this thought.  
Izumi found herself smiling almost as brightly back, despite her fatigue.  
“I won’t let you down, Yukie,” she remembered promising.

And now, it was almost time. Izumi really wanted to prove that she could do this, that they could win the race for Yukie and the rest of the class. _Extra important,_ she kept thinking to herself, as she was waiting at the top of the hill, keeping an eye out for Oki who was meant to hand her the baton. _Today is extra important_. Somehow, Yukie's ridiculous chant did not sound that ridiculous when she glanced down the hill. Whilst some classmates and others were lined up along the path of the different laps (she knew some girls had gone specifically to look at Mimura and Nanahara run theirs), most of them could be seen gathered near the finish line at the far end of the football field. That was where she could see her own friends wait, too. Oh, she just wanted this to be over so she could lay down next to them and enjoy the warm Spring day.  
As she was getting a little distracted, she was only snapped out of her own thoughts when she saw the competitors from class 2-A and 3-C come running towards them all. Not far off in the distance, she could see Oki draw nearer as well. Taking a deep breath, Izumi reached her hand out and prepared herself. The hand-over of the baton happened in a mere second, and she heard him tell her to "Go, go, go!"   
Izumi wished someone like Chigusa were giving the responsibility of being the second to last runner; it felt like a lot that the class' victory should depend so heavily on her. But of course, Chigusa had been given a more challenging up-hill lap. _Oh, right_ , Izumi reminded herself, _I'm only given this one because it's supposed to be the easiest. It_ ** _is_** _the easiest. So I can't mess it up._ _  
_ Her eyes were glued to Niida, who she could see impatiently waiting. Izumi naturally had no chance to catch up to the people already ahead of her, but she could at very least not fall behind further. As far as she could tell, no one was close to catching up to her either. They still had a chance. 

However, as she had used all her strength and energy to sprint full speed down the hill, she could feel her hands sweating. Well, every part of her was sweating already, but the hands were the main problem, as it made her grip on the baton so slippery. Wanting to get it out of her hand, and getting her lap over as soon as possible, she reached it out to Niida too early. She was not sure _why_ she thought he had a hold of it, as his fingers barely brushed against it, but... She let go. The baton very clearly had not _slipped_ out of her hand per say; she had very consciously let go. _Why did I do that?_ _Why did I think he had it?_  
Stunned, Izumi stopped cold. The rules very clearly stated that if a team dropped the baton, they would be disqualified. Realizing she had just ruined their class’ final chances in the race, Izumi immediately burst out in tears. She could feel Niida stare at her, probably in disbelief of what had just happened too, but she could not raise her eye to look at him. She could not risk seeing how disappointed and angry she had made the rest of the team. And the whole class.  
_I'm sorry, Yukie._ She cried even harder thinking about her best friend and how determined she had been to win this. _This was our last chance to get it right and I messed it up._ Making a turn to the right, Izumi ran towards the sidelines, not really with any clear direction in mind. She was still heavily crying and had her head bowed down in shame, so she could not recognise all the classmates she was running past. Finally, someone gently grabbed onto her shoulders, stopping her.

  
“Izumi…” Noriko gave her a comforting hug at seeing how upset her friend was. Chisato and Satomi were also there quickly, huddling around her.  
“Ah, don't cry, Izumi! This is just for fun anyway!” Chisato insisted with a soft smile, as she began to stroke her back. Satomi, who was not as good at comforting people as the two others, gingerly patted Izumi's shoulder.  
"There, there," she said without much conviction. "It's not about winning, it's about... Having fun?"  
Izumi just shook her head in response to all of them, cupping her hands in front of her mouth to keep from sobbing too loudly. Deep down she did know the relay race did not _really_ matter that much and that none of her classmates, including Yukie, would blame her for their loss. At least not for long. Most of them probably did not even care much about winning the field day (When Yukie previously that day had given a speech about how their class would rise to the top once again and win this thing, Iijima had turned to Seto with a confused expression and asked: "Wait, hold on, this is a _competition_?"). But at that moment, Izumi felt like a complete failure.  
_A-All I had to do was hand that silly baton over… W-Who can’t even do that? How useless am I?_ _  
_ Her three friends were all still trying to calm her down, telling her how no one would blame her ("Of course Yukie won't be mad! You tried your best!"), while hugging her tightly. After several minutes, Izumi finally stopped crying. She wiped her eyes and managed to give them a weak smile.   
“Thank you, really… I-I’ll just go wash my face quickly, alright?” she excused herself, ready to head towards the girls' restroom inside the gym building. Her friends offered to go with her, but Izumi quickly dismissed this, saying she just needed a moment alone. The fuss they made about it was making her feel even smaller and even more embarrassed, despite how she really did appreciate their efforts.

Izumi had almost made it to the entrance of the gym when it seemed like _someone other than her friends had_ noticed her walking away from the field as well. Of course, he might have just needed to use the restroom too. Or perhaps he was headed to the back of the building to meet his gang somewhere for a smoke. Izumi could not be sure of exactly what he was doing there (it seemed way too unrealistic that he had come just for _her_ ), but before she opened the door, he spoke to her.  
“‘Ey, Kanai…”  
She spun around, her face flushing as she immediately recognized the voice of one of the so-called delinquents of the class. Mitsuru Numai smiled slightly to her, looking a bit nervous too.  
_He’s probably not sure what to say to a crying girl… Ah, I hope he doesn’t feel like he **has** to say anything!_ Izumi did not immediately respond. Instead, she smiled uncertainly, feeling her cheeks heat up. She hoped he would think she was just red from running. And crying, too.  
“Don’t cry over this shit!” Mitsuru continued, his voice sounding a little steadier now, perhaps upon seeing how nervous she herself was. “Ya did a good job, y'know.”

  
Surprised by his words, Izumi seemed to have gone temporarily mute. Part of her was surprised he had watched the race at all. And he had watched her…  
_No, don’t be silly, he was watching the last laps from the field like most of the others. He wasn’t watching you_ , she corrected herself. Actually, he might not have even been watching at all, only telling her she did a good job in an attempt to cheer her up. Because clearly, she had _not_ done a good job.  
Izumi realized she should say something but was way too flustered to think of how to say words anymore. She did however find herself smiling a little warmer, though still with her gaze fixed on the ground. She figured Mitsuru must think she was a total weirdo, who always seemed incapable of talking like a normal person. Little did he know, that was only true around _him_. Not that they ever spoke much, but on the rare occasions it did happen, every intelligent thought seemed to pour out of her brain and disappear into the void. Mitsuru himself did not seem like he had anything more to add, and with one last smile, he began walking past her. Izumi finally raised her eyes to watch him leave.  
“… Thank you, Numai.” She had imagined her voice would be too weak for him to hear her properly, but the words came out surprisingly loud and sturdy. Mitsuru stopped briefly, turning his head towards her. For a moment, he looked almost surprised that she had spoken. But his lips quickly turned up into a warm smile.  
“No prob. Y’know…” he paused, his smile looking a little playful now. “If there was a next time, I’d still bet on ya.”  
Izumi turned even redder at his joke but was unable not to laugh softly. Even though he was kidding, she could not help but feel like his vote of confidence in her had been real. Despite how she had messed up. She was about to say something back, playfully telling him _That would be such a waste of your money!_ or something to that effect, but Mitsuru had again started walking away. Still, Izumi realized she was no longer crying following their short exchange. In fact, she seemed unable to stop smiling. She wondered how a day could go so wrong and so right at the same time.  
_He… really is a nice guy, isn’t he?_


End file.
